1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information service apparatus and method in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method in which a Radio Access Station (RAS) transmits information regarding business offices nearby to pre-registered Mobile Stations (MSs) in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, advertising is conducted using various mass media to announce products or tangible/intangible services. In general, the mass media include paper media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, etc.) and over-the-air broadcast media (e.g., television broadcast, radio broadcast, etc.). Such advertising using mass media aims at an unspecified number of users without considering regions and preferences of customers. This results in inefficiency in that an advertiser who places an advertisement has to pay the required price while the expectation of success based on the advertisement may not be satisfied.
To avoid the inefficiency caused by advertising using the mass media, the amount of on-line advertising using an Internet communication network has been increasing in recent years. However, the on-line advertising using the Internet communication network also has limitations in that a user must access the Internet in order to receive the advertisement through the Internet.
In addition, with the widespread use of mobile terminals that can be carried and used at any time and any place, advertising using the mobile communication system has recently drawn customer attention. Up to now, advertising using a mobile communication network has been aimed at an unspecified number of users in all regions based of the concept in which information is broadcast irrespective of locations and preferences of subscribers. As such, if the advertising aims at an unspecified number of users in all regions, there is a limitation in that an advertising service specialized for each region cannot be provided.
For example, if a workplace of a business office is located in a specific region, an advertisement directed at customers located in that region can be more effective. In addition, when a user visits the specific region, the user may desire to know region-specific information (e.g., restaurants, accommodations, tourist attractions, and the like) in that region.
Accordingly, in order to more effectively use the advertisement aimed at the mobile communication network for an important value added service, there is a need to increase advertising efficiency by providing practical information to users.